Members present: Chairperson Anthony, Vice Chairman Carino, Members Murray, Futtner, Kyc, Lillis, DeMaio, Murtha, Slicer, Morrison, Alternates, Fields, Mitchell, Streeter
Members absent: Alternate Guay
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Chairperson Anthony called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Completed.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
None.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
A motion to approve the minutes of the September 26, 2001, Regular Meeting was made by Mr. Carino, seconded by Mr. DeMaio, and unanimously approved.
COMMUNICATION/REMARKS OF THE EDC CHAIRPERSON
Ms. Anthony reported that she and Chris Edge, Director of Real Estate, at CERC, toured the Sullivan Avenue and Route 5 area, recording all empty buildings, office space, storefronts, and acreage available. As South Windsor is a member of CERC, Ms. Anthony will be placing (5) non-brokers sites on the Site Finder Web Site. The chairperson said after further research is complete, she would confer with the Town Manager before choosing the sites. Ms. Anthony reported that she is in the process of supplying information to a company considering locating in South Windsor. Ms. Anthony then introduced two guests, Mr. Craig Stevenson, Manager of Economic Development Service and Ms. Lauren Kyle, from Marketing.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Stevenson and Ms. Kyle from The Connecticut Economic Resource Center, (CREC) decided to speak to each committee separately. Ms. Kyle spoke to the Marketing Sub-committee and Mr. Stevenson spoke to the Business Retention Sub-committee. Mr. Mitchell agreed to join the Business Retention committee and Mr. Streeter agreed to join the Marketing committee. The Marketing committee held their discussion with Ms. Kyle in the Madden Room. Ms. Kyle gave a brief report when they returned. The sub-committee supplied background information during their session with Ms. Kyle and they will continue to work to package a marketing plan. Ms. Kyle will provide a more structured presentation at a later date.
Mr. Stevenson distributed a sample business survey to the Business Retention group. Mr. Stevenson explained that the survey is an important tool in obtaining data on our local industries attitudes, demographics and trends. Mr. Stevenson stated that the results of a well-run survey could significantly contribute to a successful marketing plan. After reviewing all of the questions, the members concurred that their survey will contain questions that pertain to business satisfaction along with other business information questions that are of interest to the commission. The sub-committee will review the revised survey further and bring it back to the commission at the next meeting. The survey is to be printed and mailed from Town Hall. Mr. Stevenson suggested to commissioners that they might be interested in services
offered on the CREC web site such as the weekly newsletter that is e-mailed to subscribers.
The Town of South Windsor video was viewed by all present. There were many positive comments about the high quality of the production.
The members thanked the CREC representatives for their assistance and they left the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
None.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion to adjourn was made at 9:25 by Joseph DeMaio, seconded by Mark Lillis and unanimously carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Beaudry
Recording Secretary
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